this side of paradise
by starlecter
Summary: "Threatening? No, not yet. I'm just warning him. Besides, I thought you were still at work, Mrs. Vause." Piper isn't sure whether she'll ever get used to her new last name. Non-Litchfield AU. Rated M for possible chapters. Whether I continue this or not depends on the reviews I get! All mistakes are mine considering I hardly look over my work.
1. Chapter 1

"You listen here, asshole," Green eyes stared into coffee-colored orbs, distaste clear in them. "I've worked too damn hard to let my relationship with my _wife _get ruined by the likes of you.

Her threat was replied to with a yelp and a lick to her face before the white Pomeranian spun around once then laid down on Alex's feet, licking her pale toes idly. Her face contorted into a look of disgust, staring down at her toes which were now being assaulted by a tiny pink tongue. _I will shave you, Piper will come home to a happy wife and a very, very unhappy and naked dog. _Perhaps the dog only understood telepathic messages. Her eyes widened when the dog bit down on one of her toes. It didn't_ hurt _it was a warning bite, a bite that said, _try it bitch_. _I'll chew right through you and piss in your shoes while I do it. _

Piper stood in the doorway, a large smile plastered across her face. "Stop threatening Peter Piper." The name still made her grimace, never would she assign the task of naming an animal to Alex. She should have known better, anyways. She knew Alex wanted revenge after she'd named their cat Lord Cuddleton The Second and how she _insisted _Alex called him by his full name.

"Threatening? No, not yet. I'm just _warning_ him. Besides, I thought you were still at work, _Mrs. Vause_." Alex bit her lip gently before pushing her glasses on top of her head, an eyebrow raised at Piper's expression.

"I'm still getting used to that, and no, I told you yesterday that I was taking today off. Remember?"

"No. I was probably lost in your eyes."

"You are so full of shit, Alex Vause," Piper said from the doorway, arms crossed. It seemed that Alex had completely forgotten that Peter Piper was gnawing on her toes, apparently in doggie heaven. "But I suppose in some areas you're not."

"What?" Alex gave her a questioning look, squinting a bit in Piper's direction.

"In your vows, you said ever since we met in that bar _all _those years ago, I was the only one on your mind, everyone and everything else was just a distraction until you could see me again…" Piper's grin had dulled to a smile now. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth before continuing. "That - what was it? _Everything else was just background, your like was on auto focus and the focus was on me_."

Alex felt her cheeks heat up as Piper repeated the wedding vow, she knew it by heart.

"And your point is?" The book she'd been rereading, _This Side of Paradise_, by the great mind of F. Scott Fitzgerald was resting on her lap now, closed.

"Well, for one, you closed your book without a bookmark, which you never do. Even that one time I got food poisoning and you ran around the apartment looking for a bookmark." Alex quickly looked down at her book before flipping to the page she estimated she was at. "And Peter Piper has been having a hay day on your toes ever since we started talking and you've just been staring at my eyes like some lovesick teenager, not that I mind, but I'm a teeny bit afraid that he's going to break skin."

Quickly, Alex cursed and pulled her feet up, her nose scrunching up in a way that made Piper want to crawl into bed with her and kiss it and maybe kiss a few other things, but she had plans with "the girls" and they wanted the newlywed couple to tag along.

"Come on, you doof, we've got a date with destiny. Also Nicky, Morello, Poussey, and the others," she put on an all-too-serious face before walking into their room fully, and towards the closet.

"Doof? What the fuck is a _doof_?" Alex questioned from the bed, not showing any signs of getting up. She watched the blonde pull out a baby-blue dress, which she threw it to the side and on top of Alex. Alex looked down at the dress that Piper had apparently punished for not fitting her liking. _I'm sorry. _She mouthed to the dress, gently petting the fabric.

"I don't know, it's what you are, okay? A huge damn doof that needs to put her ass in gear because they're expecting us in an hour," Piper nearly hissed at the brunette, throwing another ugly pink dress at Alex.

"But you see, babe," Alex had now moved from her place on the bed and was now stretching, feet hanging over the edge. "It doesn't take me an hour to get ready, twenty minutes _maybe_." Still, she complied and stood up, narrowly missing a white floral-print dress that had been onto the bed, covering _This Side of Paradise. _She quickly made her way to the dresser and pulled off the dark blue v-neck she had been wearing. She pulled on a long sleeve white shirt, that she pulled the sleeves up on immediately. Then she pulled off her grey sweatpants and pulled on black skinny jeans that hugged her as if it were a second skin. "Wow, would you look at that," she teased as she turned to face Piper, that had discarded three dresses since Alex had been getting dressed. Alex kicked the clothes she'd shed to the side as she walked towards the frantic blonde. "Here."

She spun Piper around and gently kissed her glossy lips in a sweet way, yet it was a way that told Piper to back the fuck off. "Alex, I don't-" But then Alex pulled a light-yellow dress from Piper's closet and pulled out a pair of tan flats from the bottom of the closet with her foot.

"And I do it again." Alex helped Piper discard the white button up that the blonde had worn to work. She pressed a kiss to the other woman's collar, causing a soft noise to emit from Piper's lips.

"No, no. Not right now," Piper warned, taking Alex's face into her hands. A very firm kiss was pressed to the brunette's lips, that caused a warmness to suddenly form between Alex's legs. "Later," Piper assured, kissing pale lips a few more times before pulling off her black pants.

"**Woman**, why must you tease me so?" Alex groaned as Piper turned away to pull on the dress that hugged her in all the right places. "Why do _I_ tease me so?" She muttered as the blonde walked towards the bathroom door. There were two bathroom in the apartment, and both belonged to Piper, though Alex was co-owner of the one in their room. Piper almost always chose to do her make-up in their shared one when they were going out together, then the two could talk as they got ready. She made her way towards their shared bathroom and leaned against the doorway, watching the younger woman run a hair straightener through blonde locks.

"Are you going to gape at my ass for the next forty minutes or are you going to help me not look like the grumpy old troll that lives under the bridge?"

Her comment was met with a loud laugh, it was just like Piper to make a reference to some stupid kids show. She seemed to have kids on the mind a _lot_ lately which made Alex very, very nervous considering they'd only been married for almost a month.

"You're a piece of work, Pipes, you know that?" She entered the bathroom slowly, before helping Piper pull the front of her hair up in one of those stupid halo hair-styles that the blonde was so smitten with and that she pulled off so damn well.

When her hair was safely tied, Piper spun around on her heels to face Alex. "Yeah? I'm your piece of work, though." She pressed another chaste kiss to her _wife's _lips with a large smile. "And don't think I'm going anywhere." She then spun back around to look into the mirror, leaning forward as she applied a generous amount of mascara and eyeliner.

Alex shook her head before pinning her hair up. "I love you." She said suddenly as Piper applied her lipstick.

The blonde turned around again and looked up into Alex's eyes. She reached up to gently hold Alex's face in her eyes. "I love you too, baby," she said gently before pressing a kiss to Alex's lips.

Then it was Alex's turn to pin-up her hair and apply her make-up. _Which _took a lot less time than Piper.

* * *

"Let's get going," Alex said, pulling on her boots next to the door.

"Yes, ma'am." Piper said, grabbing her purse full of both her and Alex's belongings.

Within minutes they were out the door and in the elevator, fingers threaded together almost immediately when the doors to the elevator opened. They were greeted by curly hair and a goofy grin. "Piper!" He said lively. "And Alex." This part was muttered more plainly, Alex grinned at the disdain in his voice.

"Gary, wonderful to see you as always." Alex said as she and Piper walked out of the elevator.

"Actually it's-" His words were cut short when Alex nearly pushed Piper passed him and through the apartment doors.

"I didn't even get to greet him," Piper pouted. "He may be my ex-fiancé but that doesn't mean I harbor any negative feelings towards him.

"You do refuse to watch Mad Men, though. And you refuse to let me call you sweetheart, which is a huge letdown," Alex replied as they made their way down the sidewalk.

"You don't even _like_ that nickname," Piper replied, bumping against Alex purposefully.

"I did want to watch the rest of Mad Men, though." Alex frowned teasingly, using her finger to trail a line down her cheek, imitating a tear.

"Oh shut _up_. Mad Men sucks."

* * *

**A/N: This is my first fanfiction that I've actually put some sort of effort in so reviews would be WONDERFUL! Whether or not I continue this depends on the reviews I get! I'm up for suggestions, whether go back to when they first met and how that evolved or just keep going where I'm at it is up to you guys!**


	2. short lived

**A/N: Thank you so much for the feedback! :~) People both wished for a flashback and a continuation, so I figured "Eh, why not both?" Keep those reviews coming! Since this story is AU, their meeting is also AU. Also, the business Alex is in is not the drug business! Just wanted to clear that up, I don't think we need that extra drama added to what's to come in later chapters. Kind of a crappy ending but I finished this chapter at 12:13 AM on the dot and could hardly keep my eyes open. Hopefully this is okay! Love you guys. :***

The walk to the rendezvous point was a short and silent one. Not a tense silence, not one that reflected Alex's mood after running into Piper's ex-fiancé who _obviously_ still had some sort of hots for her. One that said "You know what? This is good. What we have is good." They were hesitant to let go of each other's hands, knowing that once they stepped into the old diner, they'd be pulled from each other's rotation and no doubt into Nicky's or Morello's or Polly's.

After taking a deep breath, their hands broke away from each other and the two walked into the overwhelming atmosphere.

Before Nicky could pull Alex into a conversation, the brunette greeted Red, who owned the diner and found no wrong in pulling two or three tables together towards the back so the group of women could gossip.

Idle conversation between the two began. The marriage, the apartment, how the pets were, whether Alex was planning to take Piper on _another_ honeymoon or not. Alex and the rest of the group had some unspoken agreement that Red was some sort of surrogate mother to them. Though Alex _was_ part of this agreement, she still _had _hermother so unlike most of the group, she wasn't about to give Red any maternal title.

Piper left Alex to chat with Red and joined the rather loud group towards the back of the restaurant.

"No, no, Godzilla could kick the Clover field monster's ass to where ever the fuck it came from and _back_." The claim was exaggerated with quick hand movements as the bushy haired female went on. "Because while Clover destroyed New York or whatever the fuck, Godzilla kicked Tokyo _and_ New York's asses. Ma, back me up on this will you?" Her head snapped towards the woman leaning at the counter, obviously irritated at the sudden interruption.

"You're on your own. I don't know jack about either of them." The answer was simple, Red shook her head and nodded to the retreating Alex.

Nicky's eyebrows raised high when Alex arrived. "Vause A! I was just about to ask Vause B where you were!" She widened her grin which had suddenly turned into a teasing one. "Vause A, Vause B, this is Maritza. Maritza, Vause A and Vause B."

Alex received a warm smile as pressed a kiss to the top of Piper's head before sitting in the chair next to her. "I'm Alex, this is Piper." She held her hand out to the woman over the table. After shaking the Maritza's hand, she leaned back in her seat and scooted her chair closer to Piper's so she could drape an arm over the blonde's shoulder.

"So, I hear you two are married, yes?" After receiving a nod she smiled even wider than she already was. "How'd you two meet?" She slightly tilted her head as Nicky let out a loud sigh.

"I tell you, I'll never get tired of this fuckin' story. I can't afford to, I have to hear it every fuckin' week," Nicky said, words having a mock-bite to them.

"Well go help Ma in the kitchen then." It was Poussey's turn to sigh, it wasn't directed at the question, though. It was directed towards Nicky, who always _had _to find a way to be difficult.

"Well," Alex began.

"We're _fucked_." Piper slammed her head onto her crossed arms that rested on the table. She was replied with a soft pat on the back and the familiar sound of Polly ordering some more shots.

"I think it went very well," Polly muttered, downing a shot.

"Yeah, right. I made a _fool_ of myself. I made myself look like a total fucking _ditz_. Remember when I dropped the soap on the ground then proceeded to slip on it and nearly break my ass?"

This was met with no argument, but instead the sound of a small empty glass hitting the table. Piper slowly rose, a frown set on her face. "I'm going to get _so_ shitfaced you're going to have to drag me out in a body bag." She then proceeded to pull three shots toward her, one she tried to raise to her lips, but a pale hand interrupted the glasses path.

"_Wow_, you got the hard shit." Piper turned her head to the body that had slid into the booth beside her. "I like that in a woman." _Excuse me? _Her mouth fell open as the woman let out a loud laugh and rested her elbows on the table. "Let me guess… bad break up?"

After a few seconds of silence, Piper found her voice. "N…No. I have a _lovely_ boyfriend, thank you." Piper rolled her eyes before finally getting a taste of her bitter shot. "Wow I was… _not_ prepared for that," she hissed, setting the empty glass quickly. That earned a laugh from the woman next to her and Piper found herself narrowing her eyes at her. She quickly turned to Polly, but found she was laughing while a bushy-haired woman spoke to her. "Who the hell are you?"

"How rude of me, drinking your drink and you don't even know who I am! I'm Nicky's friend," she paused at Piper's expression, which had turn to confusion. "Nicky? Nicky Nichols?" This time, she was the one rolling her eyes. "She used to be Polly's coworker when they worked at B&N. Nicky was the one who got fired for tearing pages out of books and smoking weed in the back." She nodded as a look of understanding crossed Piper's face. "Anyways, we walked in, she saw Polly and got excited. I didn't want to be a third wheel, so I thought, eh, let's just talk to the cute blonde."

Finally, Piper smiled. "Oh, I think I met her once before. I was… drunk at the time, though. So it's a little foggy. I'm Piper, Polly's certified best friend." Suddenly, she wanted to slap herself at the dorky comment.

"I see…" Alex pushed her glasses back up her nose. "So, you have a _lovely_ boyfriend. So why _are _you here?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Do I have to have a reason to get shitfaced?" Piper asked, raising _her_ eyebrow this time.

"I mean, doesn't really seem your_ type_ to even go to a place like this for no reason," the brunette replied with a smile.

"Really? What exactly _is _my type?" Piper asked, a little irritated.

"You're a college graduate," she looked Piper up and down, frowning at the fact that Piper's dress hid so damn much. "WASP?" Alex bit her lip, suppressing a laugh as Piper nodded. She looked down once more after noticing Piper's cheeks turning a rosy color. "Feel free to correct me… but you seem like the type to sit down with a little bit of white wine, red if you're feeling adventurous, and you like to read a good book with big words in them while waiting for your _lovely_ boyfriend to get home from his _lovely_ job that required him to work late."

Piper's mouth fell open, and a laugh erupted from next to her. "You're full of shit, you know that? WASPs _love_ to have fun, I might come here every weekend and get absolutely smashed, and how high and mighty would you feel then?"

"Well, we don't have to worry about that because I know for a fact that you don't do that because _I_ do that and I haven't seen you once before. Believe me, I would have remembered your face."

Piper shook her head before downing another shot. "Business deal gone wrong," she finally said. "Dropped the merchandise, slipped on the merchandise, nearly broke my ass." She shuddered inwardly at the memory of all of the faces, a mix of uncomfortableness and amusement.

"Aw, poor baby." The brunette stuck out her bottom lip, which earned a light hit from the woman next to her.

"Enough about me. Tell me, what do you do?" She asked with a fake glare.

"I work for an international drug cartel."

"Vause! Stop fuckin' with the poor thing! _This_ is how you lose potential friends!" A loud voice came, Piper turned to look at the source of the voice. The bushy haired woman was now leaning over the table, swatting at Alex _Vause_. "Don't listen to her, she works a stupid fuckin' desk job that her stupid fuckin' aunt offered to her when she was eighteen. She's some kinda big shot now, ain't that right, A-_lex_."

Alex's felt her cheeks warm up as Nicky spoke. "Oh my God, shut the_ fuck_ _up_, Nicky," Alex hissed. "I can't have any fun anymore." She began standing up, following Nicky's movements.

"Well, kid, looks like I gotta jet." Alex smiled at Piper before reaching into her pocket. "Here's your phone, I put my number in there for you, in case you ever get bored."

"When the hell did you..?" Alex was walking away now, smiling widely.

"Goodbye, Piper Chapman!" She called out, turning around momentarily.

Piper raised on of her hands to wave back, eyebrows knitted together. "Wait..." She turned towards Polly. "Did I tell her my name?" She asked.

Polly offered a shrug before looking at the mess of a table, empty shot glasses decorating the wood. "Nicky probably told her," she said simply before standing up. "Let's move this back to my apartment, it smells like pot in here."

After another hour or so, Piper was laying in her shared bed, a curly haired man lightly snoring next to her. She couldn't get Alex out of her head. The way words rolled off of her tongue, it was like she'd practiced the conversation _so_ many times in front of her mirror. She bit her bottom lip, thinking about the red lips.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated on her nightstand and she was fumbling to reach it.

** New text from Alexxx: We should hang out again sometime (;**

** New text from Alexxx: Oops, I mean (:**

Alex gently tapped the cover of her book, she couldn't focus on it anyways. She was too busy staring at the phone next to her. She could hear Nicky's snoring in the other room, she let a breath go she didn't know she had been holding when her phone vibrated. She quickly grabbed it and opened the message.

**Pipes: we could tomorrow if you want?**

She gently laughed to herself before quickly texting back.

** Alexxx: That depends.**

** Pipes: on what?**

** Alexxx: /How/ lovely is your boyfriend?**

Piper rolled her eyes at the text. She couldn't say she was surprised by the flirting, she shook her head before typing out another text.

** Pipes: goodnight, alex.**

** Alexxx: Night, kid.**

"So, let me guess, she won you over with some sort of shitty love song or something?" Maritza raised on of her eyebrows at the couple.

"No, actually. We were good friends for a while, she got engaged, and that really pissed me off," Alex took a sip of soda from the glass in front of her. "And then she got pissed because _I_ was pissed. We didn't talk for a year then I texted her and we picked up like nothing ever happened."

"Are you forgetting the screaming?" Piper asked, turning towards Alex.

"Well, I remember _some_ screaming but we're probably thinking of different scenarios." That earned a loud laugh from Nicky.

"That was fucking brilliant," Nicky said with a large grin.

"I was waiting for the perfect moment to use that one." Alex grinned back and stood up to high five Nicky over the table.

"It wasn't high-five good," said Piper with an eye roll yet with a smile all the same. "More of a… fist bump good, at most."

Alex pulled the younger woman closer to her to press a kiss on the top of her head. "Oh, it was fucking hilarious and you know it. Anyways, Piper's right. We actually yelled a _lot _each other. Then one thing led to another and well… you know. Her _lovely _boyfriend couldn't compare to me."

A soft buzz emitted from Alex's pocket and she quickly pulled her phone from her pocket. "It's my mom, I have to take this." She quickly walked towards the bathroom, letting out a soft greeting to her mother before the door closed behind her.

"She is such a mama's girl," Nicky commented before reaching across the table to grab the drink Alex had abandoned. Before she could let out any sort of snarky remark, Alex burst from the bathroom door and walked right passed their table, not looking towards their table.

"Alex? What's...? Ah, shit." Piper quickly muttered an apology to the table before half-jogging out of the building. "Alex, what the fuck was that?" She yelled as she caught up to the woman.

"That was my aunt, Mom's sick. She came down with something fierce, I don't know. But her body was overheating or something, Sandy panicked and took her to the ER, and turns out she might have some sort of infection, I...I don't know, I just want to go see her, I need to make sure she's alright." She sighed deeply before turning her head so she was looking at Piper. "You don't have to come."

"Yes I do, we're each other's rocks, remember? I don't want you to crumble away or something while I'm hanging out with our best friends." Piper took Alex's hand in her own noticing the older woman was shaking. She knew Alex's mom meant the world to her, so she couldn't give her shit for freaking out so soon. The walk back to their apartment, to their car, was silent. Unlike the walk there, the silence was uncomfortable, uncertain.

Alex nearly threw herself into the car before turning the car on. "Let me just…" She looked at her shaking hands. She would be fine, her mom was tough as nails, she'd gotten through abuse, assaults, even worse; a stupid fucking infection wasn't going to take her away.

"Hey," Piper muttered, taking both of Alex's hands in her own. She leaned forward, gently pressing a kiss to Alex's lips. "It's okay, we're okay, and she's okay." Alex nodded quickly at Piper's words.

"Yeah, everything will be a-okay."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! This chapter came kicking and screaming, Orphan Black has taken over my life! I just made a tumblr so if you'd like to message me there for anything feel free! It's delphineduncan. I've had this written out for a while, I just couldn't write more! )~:**

They sat side by side, Piper had made no real attempt to reach for her wife's hand, not wanting to take any attention away from Alex's mom.

"Hey, baby girl," the older Vause said quietly before looking at the hand that had been taken hostage by Alex's nervous digits. A smile grew across her pale lips and Piper was hit by just how much Alex looked like her mom.

"Mama." While waiting for her mom to wake, Alex had changed the position of her glasses no less than twenty times. Piper had never caught on whether it was a nervous habit or if it was her way of looking tough, it was just another mystery of Alex Vause. "How are you feeling?" There'd been a shift in her expression within the few seconds it took for Diane to fully come out of her sleepy state, her once defeated look had hardened into one Piper couldn't quite put her finger on. She looked _brave_.

"I'm hot," she turned her head so she could look at the ceiling. "I'm hot and achy and just want to leave." She rolled her head to look at Alex again. "But I can't just get up and mosey on the fuck outta here, can I?" She was replied to with a gentle laugh from Alex and Piper. _Gentle_. Everything was so _gentle_. Gentle circles rubbed into Diane's hand with one of Alex's thumbs. Gentle _smiles_, gentle voices, hell, gentle _eyes_. It was as if they were saying goodbye with just… looks. As if they both knew the inevitable was holding onto the older brunette's hand, whispering coaxing words. Suddenly she was being addressed and her head snapped up immediately.

"Jesus, Pipes. You're looking paler than these fucking walls," One of Alex's hands had let go of her mother's and was brushing a strand of hair behind Piper's ears. "Are you feeling alright, kid? I don't want you to end up being in the same position as my mom." Alex maneuvered Piper's head until her blonde head was resting on the brunette's shoulder.

"I'm fine." It was a short answer. Unlike Piper's other short answers though, it had no venomous tone behind it. Just a tired one. They'd waited for quite some time for Alex's mom to wake up, some sort of medication the hospital had put her on was taking quite a toll on her. In fact, the older Vause's eyes were already drooping.

"I'm glad you're here, Piper," Diane nearly whispered. "My daughter would be fucking lost without you, you know that?" Piper smiled before nodding against Alex's shoulder.

"I know, when she's sent on those trips to other countries I'm always worrying she's going to forget how to sit down or eat or _breathe_." This earned a smile from Diane.

"My poor baby," a weak hand reached out to gently brush Alex's hair behind her ear. Despite the current state of the woman, Alex swatted at her mother's hand. "Always forgetting how to breathe."

"No, Mom. You're not_ hearing _me." The tall brunette was pacing the small room, running a hand through her already mussed hair. "I _really_ like her."

"I hear you perfectly, sweetheart. You really like the girl and she's got some sorta boyfriend or something." The older woman was sitting in one of the wooden chairs crowded around a table much too small for the amount of women gathered around it.

"Soccer's got a goalie honey, but that don't mean you can't score," a woman with obviously dyed blonde hair smacked out around her excessive amount of gum.

Suddenly, Alex stopped her pacing and sighed. She dragged her fingers out of her hair and down her face, irritation radiating off of her. "_Thank you_, Aunt Lacey," she uttered, turning around to face the only woman among the group of relatives not smoking. "Thank you for that… _beautiful _proverb. Though I fail to see how I'll ever apply it to real life. You know, seeing as how my love life** isn't** a game of fucking soccer… and no, she doesn't have a boyfriend. She has a fiancé. She gushed about him until like three fucking a.m. last night." When she received questioning looks from the whole group, she sighed. "I _love_ her, alright? Of course I'm going to let her gush over the phone to me for hours upon hours."

"Sure it is." Another woman spoke up. Alex shot her a threatening look, daring her to continue. Of course, if you knew how to shut your mouth, you weren't allowed around Vause women. "See, this is how_ I_ see it, alright? There's two teams, right? You and Mr. McDreamy. But he's just the goalie and his team fucking sucks, full of yuppies and shit, you following."

"Hey, Marsha. Watch your fuckin' mouth, alright? My daughter is a_ certified_ yuppie thanks to my sister." Diane slapped Alex's Aunt Ophelia's back affectionately, nearly making her drop her cigarette.

An embarrassed smile was returned and Alex quickly yelled back. "I'm _not_ a yuppie, Mom."

"Ain't got even a little bit of yuppie in ya?" A younger woman around Alex's age asked.

"No, I don't Nicky. I could though, if that's what it took. I could wear stupid sweaters and headbands and go out to walk with the girls or whatever Piper does. I mean, if that's what I _need_ to do."

"– Then you like just fucking go for it, right? Like there's risks and all, you're team will be fucked up for a while, you know? This is a_ huge_ loss for you. But no matter what the loss, you don't just stop, you know? Like… it might take months to get over your loss, but you move onto other games."

"You're still talking?" Nicky furrowed her brows at the blonde. "Tricia, that makes no fucking sense. Do I have to tell Ma that you're smoking dope again?"

"No, no. She actually has a point." Alex crossed her arms, and stared at the table drowning in women. "A horribly explained point, but it _is_ in there within the massive amount of absolute bullshit."

"Really?" Nicky looked at the older Vause. "Is your daughter on drugs too now?"

"I hope not, I take pride in those teeth."

Piper was driving them back home, one hand on the steering wheel and the other gripping Alex's. "She looks good." Piper said, rubbing Alex's thumb with her own. "That infection definitely looks like it's going to pass soon." She turned her head to smile at Alex.

"Holy shit. You went to medical school along with Smith? Jesus, Pipes. What other secrets are you hiding from me?" Her words were laced with irritation and Piper didn't blame her. If her mother were in the same position… if her dad… if… Polly? If Polly were in the same position she'd be… pretty upset. So she didn't hold Alex's attitude against her.

"I'm not really Piper, I never have been. My name is Clarice Starling and after a particularly intimate experience with a serial killer slash cannibal, I was put into a relocation program. I hope this doesn't change our relationship." Piper raised an eyebrow, parking the car.

"Oh my fucking god, you're such a _dork_." Alex unbuckled her seatbelt before leaning over to press a kiss to the corner of Piper's lips. "Let's go drink, yeah?"


End file.
